The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 16, 2002
Filed:
Oct. 20, 2000
Roni Shafir, Tel Aviv, IL;
Shafir Production Systems Ltd., Kfar Saba, IR;
Abstract
A method and apparatus for measuring a contoured surface, particularly the outer surface of a tooth to receive an artificial crown, by means of a probe having at least one light source, preferably three light sources at different known locations with respect to the probe contact surface; and a light sensor device at a known location with respect to the contoured surface to be mapped. The probe is moved over the contoured surface through a plurality of positions, with the probe contact surface in contact with the contoured surface at each of the positions; and the location in space of each of the light sources is measured at each of these positions. The measured locations of the light sources are used for computing the location of the probe contact surface with respect to the known location of the light sensor device.